Work has begun on a new housing development in the centre of Redditch which will provide new affordable homes.

After completing preparatory works for the new homes before the coronavirus lockdown, we've now begun work in earnest this week to build 28 new homes on a former car park in Ipsley Street. The development is a mix of 13 two-bedroom flats for rent and to buy through shared ownership and 15 specialist MyPlace flats for people with learning difficulties. The MyPlace scheme will also feature a communal hub, office and landscaped gardens. With work underway the whole development is due to be completed in spring 2021.

Site manager Craig Ballinger said: “Over the next six weeks we’ll be focusing on the grounds works, getting the foundations, the road and the drainage in and then hopefully we’ll have the bricklayers starting on site at the beginning of August.

“We’re making sure we keep to the social distancing guidelines to reduce the risk of anyone catching coronavirus. A lot of the work that’s happening at the moment is one man working with a machine so it’s fairly easy to keep to social distancing. Everyone is driving to the site in separate vehicles and is eating their lunch outside. We’ve numerous hand sanitising stations and a good stock of PPE available on site so that we can make sure everyone feels comfortable and safe working on a Bromford site.”

The Ipsley Street site is one of the first five construction sites the housing association has reopened. Plans for the safe reopening of sites have been put together following the advice of the Construction Leadership Council.

Head of construction Simon Kershaw added: “Over the past three weeks we have re-commenced on six of our developments and started two new sites. As we move into July we will be fully operational across all of our schemes and with the added support from our sub-contractors we will monitor our safety-first approach to how we operate on a daily basis.”

Bromford is committed to increasing the availability of affordable housing. After completing more than 1,000 new homes in the past 12 months, by 2028 the housing association aims to build an additional 12,000 homes as it helps tackle the housing crisis.

Find out more about our shared ownership homes to buy.